Ga. parents believe missing teen daughter lured away by someone she met online

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - Two metro Atlanta parents are in crisis. Their 16-year-old daughter is missing.

Kaylee Jones hasn’t been seen in a week. Her Carroll County parents believe she was lured away by someone she met online. They are sounding the alarm, pleading for other parents to take steps to monitor their children’s social media activities.

“My daughter is Kaylee Jones. And she’s 16 and a half, almost 17 years old,” said Daniel Jones, Kaylee’s father. “I was here at work - my wife called me about 7:15 a.m. and she said Kaylee was gone.”

It’s hard for Daniel and Brenda Jones to go to sleep at night, wondering where their daughter might be.

“It’s gut-wrenching, knowing she’s out there somewhere and not knowing where she’s at. All the worst thoughts come to our minds,” said Daniel Jones. “She is our daughter and we desperately want her back. She is a big huge part of us.”

Kaylee Jones is autistic, and because of that, her parents are afraid their daughter was more vulnerable to online predators.

“My wife found she was talking to four or five guys via Snapchat,” said Daniel Jones.

They took away her phone Monday and by Wednesday morning, Kaylee was gone.

Without her phone on her, it’s making it more difficult to track Kaylee down.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you. I tried to run this and enforce this and re-enforce this in her mind that she cannot trust everybody that she sees,” said Daniel Jones

It’s a message for parents out there: Keep an eye on your children’s use of social media so that they don’t become the next target.

“They prey on these kids. And it’s sickening, but it’s a reality. And all we can do as parents is train our kids,” said Daniel Jones.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office says they are reviewing Kaylee Jones’ social media records and following up with the last person(s) she had contact with. They say they are actively working on the case and the case agent assigned is only working on this case and is following all tips and leads with assistance from the missing persons unit.

You can email detectives with any information at kbiggs@carrollsheriff.com.

Kaylee Jones’ mother also thinks she may have a book bag with her that is dark blue with a horse on the front and possibly has the word “Mazi” or “Kaylee” on it. She may also be wearing black tennis shoes or Converse.

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